Open bottom tray blank



Jan. 9, 1962 G. E. STRUBLE OPEN BOTTOM TRAY BLANK Filed May 29, 1959 INVENTOR Glenn E. Struble KARL. LOCKS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,016,180 OPEN BOTTOM TRAY BLANK Glenn E. Struble, Hamilton, Ohio, assignor to Diamond National Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed May 29, 1959, 'Ser. No. 816,809 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-37) The present invention relates to a tray, and more particularly to a simple tray having an open bottom, retaining panels for supporting bottom panels which extend partially across the bottom of the tray, and which tray is made from an extremely simple and economical blank.

Various paper boxes and trays have been proposed in the prior art to hold articles during the selling thereof, and for similar purposes. While such trays have generally met wide acceptance, in some instances these trays have not been as attractive as desirable, have been weak and? or have been uneconomical to manufacture in that they have consumed a larger amount of paperboard material than is desirable. Other'trays have not been amenable to automatic assembly from the blank on commonly used paper box equipment or have required multiple glueing operations. Further, many of the trays which have provided for visibility of the contents thereof have not been both economical and strong, and thus have been deficient in this regard.

An object of the present invention is to that will have an attractive appearance.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tray having sidewalls that are free of scores and cuts.

A still further object of the present invention .-is to provide a tray of paperboard material that is extremely economical to manufacture.

Yet another object of the present invention ;is the .provision of a tray in which the contents are visible from above and below.

Yet anotherobject of thepresent invention is to provide a tray that will be sufliciently strong to retain contents of ordinary specific gravity, with a minimum of glueing or other securing means.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a tray that maybe manufactured on standard readily available equipment.

Other objects and many attendant advantages of the present invention will be understood from the following description and drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view of a blank in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the blank of FIG. 1 after it has been folded and glued;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, looking up atthe bottom of a tray made from the blank of FIGS. land 2;

provide a tray FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the tray of FIG. 3,

and showing articles received therein.

Referring now to the drawings, whereinlike reference characters are used for like or corersponding parts throughout the several views, there may be seen in FIG. 1 a blank 10 of paperboard or like material. This blank comprises sidewall panels 11, 12, 13 and 14 and a glue flap 15, these panels and flaps being longitudinally aligned and integrally joined to each other by scores. In particular,

the sidewall panels 11 and 12 are integrally joined by a score 21, the panels 12 and 13 are integrally joined by a score 22, the panels 13 and 14 are integrally joined by a score 23 and panel 14 and glue flap 15 are integrally joined by score 24.

Immediately below the sidewall panels 11, 12, 13 and 14, and the glue flap 15, there may be seen a plurality of additional panels. Beneath the sidewall panel 11 there is a first bottom panel 31, and beneath the sidewall panel 13 there is a second bottom panel 33. A first retaining panel 3,016,180 Patented J an. 9, 196 2 is beneath the sidewall panel 12, and is designated by the numeral 32 and beneath the sidewall panel 14 there is a similar retaining panel, designated 34. Scores 41, 42 and 43' are in alignment with the above-mentioned scores 21, 22 and 23, and serve to integrally join the several panels 31, 32, 33 and 34 in similar manner. Also, a second glue flap 35 is integrally joined to the retaining panel 34 by a score line :44.

Sidewall panel 11 is integrally joined to bottom panel 31 by a score 51, sidewall panel 12 is integrally joined to retaining panel 32 by a score 52,.sidewall panel .13 is integrally joined to the second bottom panel 33 by a score 53 and the fourth sidewall panel 14 isintegrally joined to the second retaining panel 34 by the score .54. The first glue flap 15 is separated from the second glue flap 35 by the cut 55, which may be in'the shape of a V notch, as shown.

Retaining panels 32 and 34 areeach provided with additional diagonalscore lines. In particular, retaining, panel 32 has scores 62 and 72 extending diagonally from the interior corners thereof to the free edge thereof, and the retaining panel 34 has similar scores 64and 74.

As will be noted from FIG. 1, the heighth ofthe bottom panels 31 and 33 is less than one-half of the width 'w "of the sidewall panel 12 and is greater than one-half the height of the sidewall panels 11-14. v p

In FIG. '2, there may be seen the blank 10 after it has beenfolded and glued, and is still in. a generally sleeve-like configuration. There may be seen therein the sidewall panels 12 and I3, and it will be understood that the sidewall panel ll'and bottom panel 31 have been folded behind the sidewall panel 12 and retaining panel 32, this fold being made on the scores 21 and 41. "Similarly, sidewall panel 14 and retaining panel '34 have been folded onthe scores 23 and 43to lie behind sidewall panel 13 and bottom panel 33. The glue flaps 15 and 35, "shown in dottedlines in FIG. '2, have been adhe'sively secured to the sidewall panel 11 and the bottom panel 31, respectively. 'It is in this condition that the 'tray of the present invention is shipped to the ultimate user, and the ultimate user may proceed, after receiving the trays as shown in FIG. 2, to open them up and place goods therein. When the sleeve-like, partially formed tray as shown in FIG. 2 is to be set up, it is only necessary to first open up the sleeve, so that it has a generally square or rectangular configuration, and with the panels 31, 32, 33 and 34 underlying the panels 11, 12, 13 and 14, respectively. Thereafter, retaining panels 32 and 34 are'rotated through 180, on the scores 52 and 54, respectively, so that they lie against the inner sides'of the sidewall panels 12 and .14, respectively. This is' shown clearly in FIG. 3, and it may be seen :that upon the 180 rotation of the retaining panels 32 and 34, the bottom panels 31 and 33 will be caused to rotate through so that they lie at right angles to the-sidewalls 11 After setting up the tray into the condition shown in FIG. 3, articles A are placed therein, as may be seen in FIG. 4. These articles A may comprise hot dogs, candy bars, or the like and a particular tray will be so configured that a given number of the articles A may be placed therein in a loosely packed condition, and will serve to hold the retaining panels 32 and 34 against the sidewalls 12 and 14, respectively, and thus'to hold the tray in the set-up condition without the necessity for further glueing or stapling operations, or the like. This may be clearly seen in the sectional view of FIG. 4, where 3 the several articles A are shown retaining the retaining panels in the fully rotated position.

It will be noted that inasmuch as the height H of the bottom and retaining panels is greater than one-half of the height of the sidewall panels, when the shallow tray is erected, and the retaining panels-are disposed adjacent the inner surfaces of sidewall panels 12 and 14, the articles A will prevent the retaining panels 32, 34 from being rotated downwardly to permit the bottom wall of the tray'to collapse. Thus, the weight of the articles in effect when causing a downward force on the horizontally disposed bottom panels 31, 33 also prevent the retaining panels from rotating inwardly toward each other.

There has been provided --a tray which is extremely economical to manufacture, uses a minimum of paperboard, and which displays the articles and permits the viewing of the articles from both the top and the bottom of the tray. Articles positioned in the tray of the present invention will tend to hold it in the erected form, and thus obviate the necessity for glueing. In addition, there has been provided a tray in which the sidewalls have a pleasing and appealing appearance because of the absence of cuts and scores thereon.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but'only as indicated in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A blank for forming a shallow, open-topped tray having an open bottom retained in an erected condition by the tray contents wherein the contents can be observed through the bottom and top of the tray erected from the blank, said tray comprising first, second, third and fourth rectangular sidewall panels in linear, side-by-side relation and having a co-linear, uninterrupted upper marginal edge, said sidewall panels being integrally joined by mutually parallel transverse score lines normal to said upper edge, a glue flap joined to one end of the fourth sidewall panel by a score line parallel to said first mentioned score lines, first and second rectangular hottom panels integrally, hingedly joined to the bottom of each of said first and third sidewall panels by score lines parallel to said co-linear upper marginal edge, first and second rectangular retaining panels integrally, hingedly joined to the bottom of each of said second and fourth sidewall panels, respectively, by score lines co-linear with the score lines between said first and third sidewall panels and said bottom panels, score lines co-linear with said score lines normal to said upper edge and integrally joining said first bottom panel to said first retaining panel, said first retaining panel to said second bottom panel, and said second bottom panel to said second retaining panel, and a second glue flap joined to one end of said second retaining panel by a score line co-linear with the score line joining said first glue flap to said fourth sidewall panel, said second glue fiap underlying said first glue flap, a cut separating said second glue flap from said first glue flap and extending inwardly from the end margin of said glue flaps and terminating at the score lines joining said glue flaps to said fourth sidewall panel and second retaining panel, said bottom and retaining panels including a lower co-linear margin parallel to the up per marginal edge of said sidewall panels, each of said retaining panels having a pair of diagonal scores converging from the lower corners of said second and fourth sidewall panels and extending diagonally through said retaining panels at substantially degrees to the hinge line thereof and into the lower co-linear margin thereof and terminating in spaced relation thereat, the height of said bottom and retaining panels being less than onehalf the width of said second and fourth sidewall panels and greater than one-half the height of said sidewall panels.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 308,190 Munson Nov. 18, 1884 916,544 Ferres Mar. 30, 1909 2,368,797 Bailar Feb. 6, 1945 2,832,182 McGihon Apr. 29, 1958 2,889,040 Fisher June 2. 1959 

